Jerry Lee Lewis: Nicknamed “Killer” by contemporaries such as Johnny Cash, Lewis was known for his wild antics on stage … and his even wilder offstage life.
Betty Davis: Davis was a funk diva and provocateur extraordinaire. Her influence can be seen in virtually every solo female pop act that followed her.
Jimmy Johnson: Blues guitarist Johnson started his career picking cotton in Mississippi and moved his way into legendary status in Chicago. According to Jimmy, he didn’t buy his first guitar until he was 28 years old, and didn’t play a public gig until he was almost 30.
Jon Lind: Wrote songs like Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Boogie Wonderland” and Madonna’s “Crazy For You, and Vanessa Williams’ “Save the Best for Last,” to name a few. He worked with everyone from Cher and Aaron Neville to Selena Gomez and the Jonas Brothers.
Timmy Thomas: Thomas’ big hit came in 1972 with “Why Can’t We Live Together.” It’s a sentiment I suspect we will all continue to share for the next one hundred years.
Jon Appleton: Experimental composer and champion of the synclavier, Appleton’s mark on electronic music is indelible. The World Music Theatre of Jon Appleton is a good place to start.
Calvin Simon: Simon was a founding member of arguably the most famous funk group in history, Parliament-Funkadelic. He was a vocalist for the group, and left to return to his gospel roots in the late 1970s.
Marilyn Bergman: Bergman was an Oscar-winning lyricist known for hits like “The Way We Were.” After her passing, Quincy Jones paid tribute to her, writing: “My dear, dear, beautiful Marilyn Bergman, to lose you this morning, so close to our brother Sidney, is just crushing me. You, along with your beloved Alan, were the epitome of Nadia Boulanger’s belief that ‘an artist can never be more or less than they are as a human being,’ The secret weapon to your songwriting…the unconditional love in your heart for your family, friends, and community. Your lyrics an extension of your being.”
James Mtume: An R&B and jazz percussionist. He’s best known for the hit “Juicy Fruit,” which had a second life as the main sample for the Notorious B.I.G.’s hit “Juicy.”
Maria Ewing: Ewing was a unique and ambiguous presence on opera stages during the 1970s. She prided herself on pushing the artistic envelope of staging and acting during her performances in classic shows such as Salome.
Dallas Frazier: Frazier was the songwriting behemoth behind hits like “Elvira” and “Beneath Still Waters.” His music was covered and sung and performed by everyone from Emmy Lou Harris to the Oak Ridge boys.
Rachel Nagy: Called a “talented badass” by most, Nagy was the co-founder of Detroit Cobras, a garage rock band formed in the 1990s.
Fred Parris: The bandleader for The Five Satins, he wrote “In the Still of the Night” for the love of all that is holy.
Meat Loaf: Marvin Lee Aday, better known as musician, performer, and actor Meat Loaf, passed away this year. It was never confirmed but he may have been one of the casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic. His long history of acting and performing on stage will be well remembered by those who loved his work. His big stage mix of rock ‘n roll and theater hit hard and hit big and matched the man’s size and voice.
Khan Jamal: Jamal was a world-renowned vibraphonist. While the sound has gone out of fashion it will never really disappear because it sounds so good.
Everett Lee: Lee broke through the racial barriers in our country as a Black conductor that The New York Times said made “a significant breakthrough on Broadway when he was appointed music director of Leonard Bernstein’s “On the Town” in September 1945.” In the end, Everett Lee, like many Black American artists, left the United States to prosper in Europe. He said he hoped to return to the United States when he could become the head of a top ensemble. That never happened. Only one Black conductor has ever become the maestro of a top orchestra in the U.S.
Sonny Turner: Turner replaced Tony Williams as lead singer of The Platters in 1959.
Ian McDonald: He co-founded King Crimson. He co-founded Foreigner. That’s a lot of multi-instrumental progressive rock flute-playing!
Ron Miles: He was a cornetist, composer, and bandleader. Pianist Jason Moran told NPR “If you played a Ron Miles song right, in the best of moods you’d be crying. Because the songs were full. I equate it to the way John Coltrane made ‘Lonnie’s Lament.’ He knew how to find the joy in a melody, and he knew where the heart was in it. Even just in the moment of playing them, it would just rush over you. A lot of music we play doesn’t have that, it just doesn’t.” Here he is talking about his last album “Rainbow Sign,” with Blue Note President and legendary producer Don Was.
Mark Lanegan: Lanegan was one of the grunge generation musicians that lasted. He fronted Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age.
Freddie Hughes: An American soul singer, Hughes died from complications due to leukemia and COVID-19 in Oakland, California. Many felt he should have been a bigger star than he ended up being, but the music is still there. Listen to this song. Holy cow.
Syl Johnson: Johnson was a classic 1970s soul singer with a blues guitar background. If you don’t think you know him, you can take a listen to this song and then realize how many times you’ve likely heard it sampled in other songs over the last 40 years.
Beegie Adair: A jazz pianist, Adair had a career in Nashville that spanned six decades. Beegie played all the way up until the end.
Rosa Lee Hawkins: Hawkins was one-third of the New Orleans trio The Dixie Cups. The Dixie Cups are best known for their 1964 hit “Chapel of Love.”
Philip Paul: Paul was the original drummer on recordings of classics like “Fever” and “Please Come Home for Christmas.” He is credited for creating the beat for “The Twist.” The Harlem native was a jazz legend, and played with everybody for the past eight decades.
Ronnie Spector: The lead singer of the Ronettes, Spector fought her whole life under the shadow of her former husband, the convicted murderer Phil Spector. Ronnie outlived him, while her big hit and unbelievable voice will outlive us all.
Willie Leacox: Leach was the former drummer of the band America. The band released this statement:
George Crumb: He was an avant-garde composer, with accolades like Pulitzers and Grammy Awards. His work influenced many, including Radiohead and David Bowie.
Sam Lay: Lay was a blues drummer who played with Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan, and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Lay was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2015 with latter group. According to Billboard Law was one of the musicians on stage, backing up Bob Dylan the night he went electric in 1965 at the Newport Folk Festival.
Andrew Woolfolk: He was the sax man during the glory years of Earth, Wind & Fire. Lead singer Philip J. Bailey wrote of Woolfolk: “He has Transitioned on to the forever, from this Land of the dying to the Land of the Living.”
Ernie Andrews: Andrews was a jazz and blues singer with a career that began in the 1940s. His big break came when he was asked by Betty Grable’s husband Harry James to join his orchestra in 1959. Grable was a fan and pressed her husband to get him into the group. One of the defining talents Andrews possessed was a true versatility of range and genre.
Mac Martin: Martin was a Pittsburgh-area self-taught bluegrass musician. Born William Colleran, he returned from World War II, after serving in the Pacific stage, and changed his name to Miller. The stage name was inspired by his Martin-brand guitar and the familiar way of addressing guys as “Mac.” Miller was one of the early groups of musicians that would later be termed bluegrass.
Conrad Janis: To one generation, Janis was known as the dad on Robin Williams’ break-out television sitcom Mork & Mindy. To others he was known as a talented jazz trombonist who played with The Beverly Hills Dixie Band.
Warner Mack: He is a country music legend who wrote “Is It Wrong (For Loving You).” He continued to write hits and sell albums through the 1960s into the 1970s, when a car accident derailed his career.
“Grandpa” Elliot Small: Grandpa was a French Quarter, New Orleans mainstay for over 70 years, playing and singing on the streets of NOLA. He was one of the main musicians featured in this viral Playing For Change video rendition of “Stand By Me.”
Gary Brooker: He was the co-founder and lead singer of the band Procol Harum. Now that’s a voice!
Bobbie Nelson: She was called a country music pioneer and millions of fans knew her as “Sister Bobbie,” including her younger brother Willie Nelson. Bobbie performed as a singer and pianist for year and joined Willie’s band later on in life, and according to Willie was the most accomplished musician in their family.
LaShun Pace: Pace was a legendary gospel singer and Atlanta, Georgia native. She had an impressive solo career as well as one with The Anointed Pace Sisters—comprised of Pace and her eight sisters. She appeared in movies along with her music.
Bobby Hendricks: Was a part of the “Drip Drop” late 1950s Drifters, coming and going from the group throughout the years.
Taylor Hawkins: Hawkins’ tragic passing earlier on in 2022 hit the rock world hard. Known as the drummer for Foo Fighters, with the spectacularly hard job of drumming behind the man who was best known as one of the top drummers in the world, Dave Grohl. Hawkins was clearly up for the job and he added the kind of playfulness and fun appreciated by both fans and casual observers. Hawkins died while on tour with the Foo Fighters but before then, had some wonderful moments on stage, including this one, where Grohl went back to the drum kit from whence he came, while Taylor took the microphone to sing a rousing rendition of Queen’s “Somebody to Love.”
Howie Pyro: He started as a punk rock player with the band D Generation, and was the bassist for Danzig. A New York native, Pyro was a part of the punk and post-punk lower east side scene, pioneering boundaries as a DJ when he wasn’t performing on stage in bands.
Joseph Kalichstein: Kalichstein was known as Yossi by friends. He was a renounced concert pianist and chamber musician. . HIs career highlights included being an educator, a performer, and a recording artist, amongst other things. Conductor Leonard Slatkin released a statement saying, “Ever since our days as students at Juilliard, we remained close. His brilliance as a musician was only surpassed by his genuine humanity and compassion for others. If ever the word ‘mensch’ applied to anyone, it was Yossi. This is a tremendous loss for all of us.” Here he is as a very young man, being invited by Leonard Bernstein to play some Beethoven for one of his “Young People’s Concerts”
Roland White: White was a bluegrass and country-rock musician with a long career, first with the Country Boys in the 1950s; and later inspired country-rock bands like the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield with the west coast bluegrass he and his brothers performed.
Joe Messina: Messina was one of the top guitarists in the storied Motown studio band. While Motown used many musicians in studio to create its hit machinery, Messina, along with Robert White and Eddie Willis, were the “three-guitar attack” sound that Motown was known for. If you want to hear Messina separated from the crowd listen to “Someday We’ll Be Together,” by Diana Ross & The Supremes.
Paul Siebel: He was a country-sounding folk-type singer that hit the Greenwich Village scene in the mid-1960s and 1970s, but dropped out of the music business in part due to his terrible stage fright. His best known song was “Louise,” sung here by Bonnie Raitt.
Bobby Rydell: He was such a rock teen idol in the 1960s that, according to Deadline, the musical Grease named its school Rydell High School in his honor. His hits included “Velar” and “Wild One.” If you’re a movie buff you’ll remember this scene with Ann-Margret from the film Bye Bye Birdie.
Charnett Moffett: Born in New York, Moffett was a jazz virtuoso.”A former child prodigy who first recorded at age eight with his drummer father Charles Moffett Sr., he reportedly contributed to more than 200 albums during his career, by a dizzying array of artists ranging from Pharoah Sanders to Harry Connick Jr., Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Ornette Coleman, Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Jordan, Anita Baker, Herbie Hancock, Sonny Rollins, Carla Bley, and McCoy Tyner.”
Charles McCormick: He sang and played bass for the legendary rock, funk, R&B, and soul act, Bloodstone.
DJ Kay Slay: He was a legendary New York City DJ and graffiti writer who passed away after a long battle with COVID-19. Putting together shows and an early producer of Hip Hop mixtapes, Slay’s work featured luminaries of the genre like Raekwon, Eminem, 50 Cent, the Lox, Scarface, and many others. His family’s statement read in part: “Our hearts are broken by the passing of Keith Grayson, professionally known as DJ Kay Slay. A dominant figure in Hip Hop culture with millions of fans worldwide, DJ Kay Slay will be remembered for his passion and excellence with a legacy that will transcend generations.”
Hollis Resnik: She was an acclaimed actress on the stage, based out of Chicago. Her credits included national touring productions of “Les Misérables” as Fantine, Eva Peron in “Evita,” Aldonza in “Man of La Mancha,” and many others.
Guitar Shorty: He was a blues musician named David Kearney, but he went by the moniker Guitar Shorty. He toured with the greats and played all over the world for decades. According to Blues Magazine, he was credited in being an influence on Jimi Hendrix as well as on Buddy Guy.
Judy Henske: She was a folk revival singer, known for her renditions of “Wade in the Water” and “Love Henry.” She was on the razor’s edge of her time first through the door, and would be eclipsed in popularity by others, as you can hear from her song “High Flying Bird,” released in 1964. But she was right there first. She continued making music and having her music covered for decades.
Naomi Judd: The matriarch of the country group The Judds passed away this year after a long battle with the mental health illness bipolar disorder. Along with her daughter Wynonna, the two made a lot of music. Naomi is enshrined int he Country Music Hall of Fame.
Stay tuned for Part Two!
